CK's Cam Whoring in Japan

How time flies! I have been in Japan for exactly six months by today. If you are reading this post today, I should be on my way back to Malaysia.

I have taken about 17,000 photos for my stay in Japan, but I don't have many with myself in them. Nevertheless, these few photos are very memorable to me.

My Vietnamese friend Lam helped me to take this photo at Hitsujiyama Koen.

My friend Marlene who's working in Beijing visited me in May.

Me and Kim, Marlene's travelling companion at Isetan of Shinjuku.

My Thai friend Tap helped me to snap this photo at Kawaguchiko.

My baseball experience at Tokyo Dome.

Me and the cosplay gals at Korakuen.

Another cosplay act.

Posing with a video gal at Akihabara.

This was taken on a Yakatabune (Japanese traditional houseboats) at Odaiba.

I wasn't a smoker! This was also somewhere around Odaiba.

The world is in my hand! This Geo-cosmos globe is inside the Miraikan.

CK's featured in the Pachinko advertisement!

I wish every burger at Mos Burger is this size.

Me and my idol Doraemon at Asahi TV.

I was at Otaru in Hokkaido.

This was taken at the Okurayama Ski Jump Stadium, the stadium that hosted the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo.

Me at Owakudani, the area around a crater created in the last eruption of Mount Hakone 3000 years ago.

Me and the pirate on Ashinoko (Lake Ashi) at Hakone.

The Many Faces of Fujisan

For my six-month stay in Japan, I have seen Fujisan (Mt. Fuji) for several times. So, I dedicate this post to Fujisan for the many faces that I have seen. She looks very different at different time of the year.

View from inside a train to Kawaguchiko.

View from Hakone sightseeing boat on Ashinoko (Lake Ashi).

View from the observatory of Landmark Tower at Yokohama.

Another view from the observatory at 69^th floor of Landmark Tower.

A closer look from the Landmark Tower.

The following shots were taken some time at the end of April from a plane bound for Tokyo from Hiroshima. I like this series the most as the top of Fujisan was still covered with snow.

Uni Sashimi

Hokkaido is the best place to find the freshest seafood in Japan as the whole island is surrounded by seas rich in yummy seafood. One of the best places to find seafood in Hokkaido is the Nijo Market in Sapporo.

When I was wandering around Nijo Market, I saw many types of seafood that I have never seen before. This particular shop attracted my attention as I saw many people eating something like rambutan.

A closer look at those creatures confirmed that there weren't rambutan, they were some shaved uni (pronounced as oo-nee, sea urchin).

I have tasted some uni sushi in Tokyo but it was not as fresh as these. These were actually life ones!

So, I chose the smallest one and asked the shopkeeper to prepare it as sashimi for me.

This was the best uni that I have ever had in Japan! It was just pure freshness of the sea without the odour (those who have taken the not-so-fresh uni should know what I mean by the odour). It wasn't cheap though, at ¥540 for this small one, but it was worth an experience of the freshest uni.

Super Yosakoi 2008 – More Stage Show

There were actually many groups performing at the Super Yosakoi 2008 stage show and I couldn't put all the photos into one post. So, here are the second series of the stage show photos. The first series of photos of the same stage show can be found here.

Sapporo Ramen

The ramen in Sapporo is one of the famous local food. Therefore, there is a small lane here called Ramen Yokocho with 16 ramen shops crammed in.

It can be quite difficult to find because it is off from the main street. I failed in my first attempt and settled for this Shin (New) Ramen Yokocho.

The rule of thumb in finding good food is: look for the shop with the least number of empty seats or the length of the queue. However, I prefer the former.

After I had found an empty seat, I started to look through the menu. One good thing about the food menu in Japan is that it usually comes with pictures. So, I ordered this:

The toppings consisted of a large slice of chasu (roasted pork), mussels, a type of seashell and a whole squid. The noodles were very much like the curly egg noodles of the Chinese.

After I finished this bowl of noodles, I kept exploring this area and I finally found the original Ramen Yokocho! It is actually directly behind Shin Ramen Yokocho but one has to make a big round turn to reach there. There is no bypass that one can cut through.

So, I went back there on another day to look for a bowl of authentic Sapporo ramen.

Out of the 16 shops, I picked this one because the most famous shop was jam-packed with a very long queue.

Another reason that I entered this shop was due to the mouth-watering grilled chasu in the picture menu outside of the shop.

This shop is run by a white-bearded guy who looks very much like an experienced chef and a food connoisseur. I knew I had entered the right shop!

Although the time taken for him to serve one bowl of ramen was a little longer than in the other shops, but he prepared every bowl from scratch. I could see his sincerity in serving us the freshest ramen that we could offer. He even grilled the chasu there and then before serving it!

The one that I ordered came with toppings of grilled chasu, two halves of half-boiled egg, one shrimp wantan (dumpling) and one scallop wantan. The soup base was black-bean miso.

The noodles were the curly egg noodles, very much like the Chinese noodles. They were springy and crunchy. Eaten together with the fragrantly-grilled chasu, it was food made in heaven!